


On The Loose

by Mamabug1981



Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Friends to Lovers, Frottage, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-16
Updated: 2018-10-16
Packaged: 2019-08-03 00:10:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16315322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mamabug1981/pseuds/Mamabug1981
Summary: "One of you needs to just man up so the rest of us can stop tripping over the tension between you two.”





	On The Loose

**Author's Note:**

> So, this came about because at the time I started writing it, there were only 6 or so Rob/Misha stories, and every single one either were as a threesome with Jensen, or Rob and Misha never worked out in the end. I needed a happy ending for the two of them, so I wrote it.
> 
> The song mentioned here does exist, and is one of my favorites from the summers I spent growing up at Girl Scout camp. Go find it on YouTube.

“Y’know, if you don’t want people to know, you should stop staring.”

Rob was startled out of his ruminations by Rich plopping down on next to him on the green room sofa. He scowled.

“What, jealous?”

Rich snorted. “Not a chance. Why would I be jealous when I’m riding that gorgeous creature over there?” He gave a smirk and waved his fingers at Jared across the room, who blushed and turned back to his conversation with Jensen and Misha.

Rob shook his head. “Talk about less than subtle.”

“Yeah, we’re working on that.” Rich shrugged. “Anyways, enough about me. So, you and Collins, eh?”

Rob crossed his arms and laid back on the sofa. “Yeah, right. I wish.”

“Seriously dude, just tell him. Or don’t. He’s one of the most straight forward guys we know. Either he’ll end up feeling the same way, and you two can get down to business, or he won’t, simply say so, and continue with his day. Either way, it won’t be him making it weird. And you know that.”

Rob’s head fell back, and he closed his eyes with a sigh. “Yeah, I know, I know. C’mon, we gotta go outro the girls.”

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jensen looked over at Misha to say something, but Misha was too entranced in watching Rob leave. He reached over and snapped his fingers in front of his friend’s face to get his attention.

Misha startled, and turned to scowl at Jensen. “Dude, what the hell?”

“Y’know, for wanting to keep your feelings on the down low, you’re being pretty damned obvious.”

Misha folded his arms on the table and put his head down. “I know man, I know.”

“Why don’t you just talk to the guy?”

“Man, you know what he’s like. Nervous, squirrelly. I like what we have now, I don’t want to ruin that by making things weird if he doesn’t feel the same.”

“Dude, have you seen the way he stares at you?”

Misha lifted his head as Jared piped up from across the table. “Oh, hey, look who finally noticed something besides Rich’s ass,” Misha snarked.

Jared grinned. “Hey, at least I got mine. When are you going to man up and go get yours?”

He jumped out of his chair and ran for the door laughing as Misha bolted around the table after him. Misha was close enough behind Jared going through the door that he missed him dodging someone until Misha slammed into them. They fell to the floor as Jared escaped down the hallway.

He heard a groan as the person on the floor under him tried to catch their breath. His own breath caught as he looked down to find Rob staring up at him, glasses askew on his face.

Rob swallowed as he reached up to straighten his glasses with his free hand, the other one buried… Oh, ok. He unconsciously flexed his hand before slowly releasing the handful of Misha’s hair from his grasp.

The quick tug of his hair made Misha groan and close his eyes. He didn’t realize that he had ground his partial erection down into Rob’s hip until he heard his gasp.

Misha’s eyes flew open. Rob was looking up at him with a mix of fear, confusion, and… was that arousal? “Rob! Um, hi?”

“Mish… Misha. How’s it going?” He shifted under Misha’s weight and froze, praying Misha didn’t notice… He could see the moment Misha registered Rob’s own erection beneath him. Rob brought his hands up to push on Misha’s chest. “Mish. Please, let me up dude. Let me up.”

“Oh, yes. Of course.” The action of getting his arms under him to push himself up pressed his hips down onto Rob’s again. Both men groaned, and Rob’s expression took on a look of arousal and panic as he slid out from under Misha.

Misha had a brief eye-level look at the bulge in Rob’s pants as Rob scrambled to his feet. He rubbed the back of his neck with his hand as he looked down at Misha still on the floor.

“So, I’ve got… this thing… the band… rehearsal… concert tonight… yeah.” Rob shoved his hands in his pockets and escaped down the hallway.

Misha pulled himself up to sit against the wall. “Well, fuck.”

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Hey man, we’re headed out for some drinks and chow. Coming with?”

Rob looked up from where he was packing up some of the band’s gear. “Yeah, I guess. Sure.” He stood up and dusted off his pants. “Who all is going?”

Rich started ticking off names. “J2, the girls, us, Matt, Misha…”

Rob tensed up at the mention of Misha’s name. “Um, yeah. Actually, I’m pretty tired, I think I’m gonna crash for the night.”

Rich groaned. “C’mon Robbie. You can’t avoid him forever. Let’s just go, yeah?”

“Rich, no!” Rob turned and slammed the top of the guitar case shut and locked it. Picking it up, he shoved past Rich. “I’m not facing him until I absolutely have to. And right now is not that time!”

He looked back at Rich. “You guys have fun. I’m going to bed.”

“Robbie, come on!”

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Misha dropped into a chair at the bar to wait for everybody. He had just gotten his drink when Rich claimed the empty seat next to him.

He took a sip of his beer. “No Rob tonight?”

Rich nodded his thanks to the bartender and threw back his shot, then turned to Misha. “Nope. I mean, he was going to. But funny enough, the moment he heard your name, he decided to retire for the night instead. Any idea what that might be about?”

Misha sighed, running a fingertip along the rim of his glass. “Yeah, I think I do.”

Rich signaled for another shot. “Why can’t one of you just talk to the other, get this sorted like adults?”

“Dude, he won’t talk to me. I was trying not to make it weird, and it happened anyways.”

“C’mon man. You like him, he likes you. One of you needs to just man up so the rest of us can stop tripping over the tension between you two.”

Misha drained his glass and slid it across the bar in front of him. “Fine, I’ll try again. Where is he?”

“Said he was headed to bed.”

“Of course he did.”

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Misha walked down the hall towards Rob’s room, trying to decide whether he was hoping he was actually asleep or not. He stopped in front of the door and raised his hand to knock, then paused.

He could hear the soft strains of a melody on Rob’s guitar. He didn’t recognize it, but liked what lyrics he could make out through the door.

 _Have you ever seen the sunrise turn the sky completely red?_  
_Have you slept beneath the moon and stars, a pine bough for your bed?_  
_Do you sit and talk with friends, though a word is never said?_  
_Then you’re just like me and you’ve been on the loose._

He eavesdropped for another line or two, then quietly rapped his knuckles against the door.

The music paused, and for a moment he thought Rob might not answer the door. Finally he heard a rustling and footsteps, and the door opened. Misha swallowed hard, jamming his hands in his pockets.

Rob stood in the doorway. His pajama pants rode low on his hips, and the t-shirt he wore was ragged and stretched tight across his torso, barely skimming the waist of his pants. Misha struggled to ignore the thin strip of skin that showed and kept his eyes on Rob’s. It took him a moment to register that Rob was speaking.

“Um… Hey, Mish. What… what’s going on?”

Misha cleared his throat. “Uh… Missed you at the afters tonight. Thought I’d stop by, see if everything was ok.”

“Um, nope… no… all good, all good. Thanks for checking! Uh, see you in the morning, bye!” Rob’s voice rose in pitch as he stuttered. He went to close the door, but Misha stopped him by blocking the door with his hand.

He sighed. “Rob, come on. You can’t be any happier with this weirdness between us than I am. It sucks. Can we just talk? Please?”

Rob considered him for a moment, then dropped his head. He pulled the door open before walking over to the bed, not paying attention to see whether Misha followed him in. Misha watched Rob pick his guitar back up and start picking out the melody he’d heard before.

He crossed the room to sit on the couch. Rob closed his eyes and hummed along for a moment, then glanced up at Misha, looking unsure.

“What song is that? I don’t recognize it.”

Rob shifted his gaze down to his fingers on the strings. “I don’t know really. Old Scouting camp song maybe? Just something I stumbled across on YouTube one night. It… It kind of makes me think of you, actually.”

Misha nodded. “It’s lovely. Do you mind singing me some of it?”

Rob nodded hesitantly. “Yeah, sure, I guess.” He strummed a few more bars before starting into the chorus of the song.

 _On the loose to climb a mountain,_  
_On the loose where I am free._  
_On the loose to live my life_  
_The way I think my life should be._  
_For I’ve only got a moment,_  
_And a whole world yet to see._  
_I’ll be looking for tomorrow on the loose._

Misha listened as Rob sang through the last few lines of the verse. Yeah, he could see how Rob identified that song with him.

Rob eventually fell silent, mindlessly picking out chords to avoid conversation with the man in front of him. He didn’t notice Misha had gotten up until he startled Rob by taking the guitar gently out of his hands. Misha carefully set the instrument on the sofa and sat on the bed next to Rob. Rob leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees, fiddling with his fingers.

Misha ran his hands down his face and sighed, turning towards Rob.

“There really is no easy way to start this conversation, is there? Just… Rob, look at me.” He reached over and covered Rob’s hands with his own, forcing Rob to look up at him. “Look. I really like you. And I think you like me too. Am I wrong?”

“Yes… I mean, no… I mean… Yes, I like you. No, you’re not wrong.” Rob blushed and looked down. “I just… I like how we are as friends. I didn’t want to make things weird and lose that if you didn’t feel the same way.”

“And then I crashed into you and things got weird anyways,” Misha guessed.

Rob nodded. “Yeah. Figured my reaction to you killed any chance I had at not scaring you off. And you know me, I ran rather than face you.”

“I almost came after you. Thought that I had scared YOU off, and didn’t want to push you entirely away. Hoped you would come out with us tonight and I could talk to you then.”

“Then I didn’t show.”

“Yup. Also, I’m pretty sure Rich is fully fed up with us both. Basically told me to man up and come sort things out with you.”

“Sounds like Rich.”

“Rob…” Misha reached over with his free hand and hooked a finger under Rob’s chin, pulling his head around to face him. “Rob, I… Oh, fuck it.” He slid a hand around the back of Rob’s neck and pulled him in for a kiss.

Rob froze in shock. The contrast between the soft, warm lips on his and the prickly scruff scratching against his own was almost overstimulating, and he gasped.

Misha mistook Rob’s reaction for rejection, and pulled back. “Rob, I… I’m sorry. I thought…”

“Misha,” Rob growled. “Shut the fuck up.” He grabbed the back of Misha’s neck with both hands and pulled him back down for another kiss, moving to straddle Misha’s lap.

Misha moaned, surprised by this dominant behavior in Rob. He couldn't deny that it was sexy as fuck, though. He grabbed Rob by the hips and pulled him up tight against himself, doing his best to grind up into Rob.

Rob broke the kiss and cried out at the press of their hard cocks against each other. He dropped his head and panted as Misha ground up into him again. He rolled his hips into Misha’s in response.

Misha wound his hand up into Rob’s curls and grabbed on, using a fistful to pull Rob’s head back so he could kiss him again. He bit down on Rob’s lower lip, and nearly came in his pants when Rob bucked his hips down again. The stutter in his thrust and the way he was shaking told Misha that Rob hadn’t been quite so successful.

“Misha, that…”

“Rob, I…”

Rob lifted his head to look Misha in the eye. He was surprised to see, mixed with the lingering arousal, a look of regret. Rob warily slid off of Misha’s lap to stand in front of him.

“Misha, what's wrong?”

Misha sighed, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees, and scrubbed his hands over his face. “Rob, you have to know that this was a mistake, that it shouldn't have happened. Not yet at least. “

“Mistake? Mistake?!” Rob’s voice started climbing the octaves. “You’re calling this, ME, a mistake? What the fuck, man? I thought you wanted this. I thought this was mutual. And now it’s all a fucking mistake?”

Shit, he’d known that was the wrong word the moment it came out of his mouth. “No, not… not a mistake. Maybe premature would be a better word. There are questions that should have been asked first. I’m married, there’s conversations that should have happened well before we got this far…”

“Just go.”

Misha looked up. “What?”

Rob just stood there, his arms wrapped around himself in insecurity and tears streaking his face. “You heard me. Go. This is my room, so you need to go. I don’t want to hear your excuses. Go.”

Misha stood up. “Rob, please, can we talk this through? I…”

“Misha, stop!” Rob was visibly seething now. “This is EXACTLY why I didn’t want to push things, no matter how we felt about each other. I was afraid it would get all fucked up, and now it has! Just, get out!”

Rob watched as Misha’s head dropped in defeat and he headed for the door. Misha’s hand paused on the handle, a thousand things he should have said running through his head, before finally opening the door and leaving. He winced as the door slammed shut behind him, and he slumped back against it, his heart shattering. 

On the other side of the door, Rob took two steps forward, a thousand things he should have said running through his head. He wanted to chase Misha down, apologize for his overreaction, talk things out. He stopped and tried to swallow past the lump in his throat as the door slammed shut in front of him. Placing his hands on the door, he rested his forehead against the painted wood with a sob, his heart shattering. 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“You did WHAT?!”

“Rich, I know, I fucked up!”

“You sure as shit did. What the hell, Mish?”

Misha dropped his head onto his crossed arms on the table. “I don't know. I panicked. All I could think of what how much I LIKED it, but how there was so much that should have happened before we ever got to that point. And then I called it a mistake…”

Rich groaned and dropped his head back. “Tell me you didn't.” Misha looked up at him, and the miserable look on his face told Rich all he needed to know. “Damn it, man. You know his history with his dad. You know what that word means to him"

“I know, I know. I knew it was the wrong word the moment it came out of my mouth. Then he was too busy kicking me out of the room to let me explain better. I tried going by this morning to apologize, but he refused to answer the door, and he won't answer my texts or take my calls.” He sighed. “I just need to know how to fix this.”

Rich dropped into a chair beside him. “Dude, I'm not sure you can. The way he probably sees it, he trusted you enough to do what you guys did, and you basically called him the most despicable thing in the book as a result. It's gonna take an act of the actual God to get him to come back to you.”

“No shit. Any ideas?”

“One. But you’ll have to hurry to set it up, he’ll be down any minute to intro the boys’ gold panel. And pray for all our sakes that it works.”

_____________________________

Rob walked into the greenroom. He was still hurting from the night before. Then Misha was pounding on his door at way too early in the morning to try to talk to him again, waking him up into his hangover from trying to drink his hurt and anger away. And now, he had nearly dropped his guitar when the shoulder strap broke.

He threw the broken strap into a random equipment bag. He turned towards his case to grab his spare strap, and stopped short. Laid on top of the black plastic was a single carnation, the snow white petals tinged blue at the tips. He looked around the empty room, trying to figure out who left it, but there was no clue. Picking it up, he brought it to his nose to smell it, then tapped it against his chin to consider the possibilities. It could have been any of them, for any number of reasons.

He sighed, setting it aside for the moment. He dug into the case for the strap, then picked the flower up and placed it inside the case for safe keeping for the moment. Closing the case, he stood up and headed towards the stage, ducking his head to avoid talking to Misha headed the opposite direction. 

He made it backstage just in time to get the new strap put on and adjusted, then stepped up on stage. He stopped short as he approached the mic stand. Tucked in alongside the microphone was another carnation, with the same blue tipped white petals. He carefully took it down and twirled it in his fingers, then leaned in to talk into the mic.

“Aww, you guys shouldn't have! What’s the occasion? My birthday was two months ago.”

Jensen threw his hands up. “Dude, don't look at us.”

Rob looked out to the audience. “You guys will tell me, right?” He was shocked when even they refused to tell him. Well, that ruled out a fan gift. He looked around at the band, but they all shrugged as well.

“Looks like somebody has a secret admirer,” Jared piped up.

“Yeah, I guess.” Rob tucked the flower behind his ear and threw his guitar strap over his head and settled it across his back. “Shall we get you guys off this stage?” They launched into the song, but the whole time, the question of who was leaving the flowers lingered in the back of his mind.

\----------------------------------------------------

Walking back into the greenroom with everyone, Rob walked towards the band's gear to place the flower still behind his ear in with the first, and gaped at what awaited him. In front of his case was a vase half-filled with water, holding another flower that matched the first two. He sighed, retrieved the one from his case, adding both it and the one from the stage to the one in the vase, and stood. He walked over to the table where Rich and the band were chatting. Setting the vase on the table, he crossed his arms and glared at them.

“Come on, guys! You’ve gotta know who’s behind this?”

Rich shook his head. “No can do, Bobbo! We’ve all been sworn to silence.”

Rob looked at his bandmates. “Et tu, guys?” They simply shrugged and went back to their conversation. 

_______________________________

And so it continued all day. Rob would go to the stage to intro a panel, only to return to another flower to add to the vase. Then he’d get up to outro the panel, only to find one tucked in alongside his mic on its stand. Even the fans had somehow been bribed not to tell him anything.

Things finally wound down to the last two panels of the day: Misha’s, and the KoC panel. They intro’d Misha, and filed off the stage. Rob would later deny sprinting down the hall to the greenroom in anticipation of the next flower.

He looked around. Nothing on his guitar case, nor in it. Nothing on top of his coat. He counted the flowers in the vase. Nope, still only 11. 

The band watched him dart from spot to spot around the room, double and triple checking anywhere they had previously shown up, as well as a few new places, just in case.

After a few minutes, they nodded at each other.

“Rob!” Rob stopped and looked at Billy as the guitar player pulled a folded piece of paper out of the pocket of his jacket. “Here. I was told to give you this.”

“By who?”

“Sorry, buddy. You’ll just have to wait just a little longer.”

Rob stalked over and snapped the paper out Billy's hand with a mumbled “Traitors!” He stepped away and unfolded the note.

_I know that not knowing who this is has been driving you crazy. Please don't be mad at everyone for keeping my secret. Bring your vase with you to outro Misha, I will meet you there._

Rob checked his watch. Damn it! Still 20 minutes to go. He started pacing the room, only stopping when Stephen got tired of it and pushed him down on the couch, shoving a guitar into his hands.

“Here. If you're going to fidget, at least do it productively.”

Rob stared down at the guitar for a moment. He finally got into position and started mindlessly plucking out a melody, closing his eyes and letting his mind drift and clear with the music.

His head shot up as the handler came into send them to the stage. He put the guitar down, scooped up the vase of flowers, and headed down the hall as fast as he could with his hands full. Stepping up on the stage with the band, he was again surprised by the absence of a flower. He crossed to his mic and set the vase on the amp behind him, doing his best to not let his disappointment show as he turned around.

“Awww! Rob, flowers? You shouldn't have!”

“Sorry, Collins. Those are mine. Apparently I have something of a secret admirer today. But nobody seems to know who it is. Any ideas?”

“Yeah, about that.” Misha turned from Rob to address the audience. 

“So, last night, I did something really, really stupid. I panicked during something that I had been looking forward to for a very long time. I used a poor choice in words, and in the process, I seriously hurt somebody that I deeply care about. Stephen?”

He turned back to Rob, who was trying his hardest not to display his emotions even as he watched Stephen reach down behind his kit and pass the twelfth carnation to Billy to pass over to Misha.

“I had to try one more time to apologize. I didn't know how, and I didn't even know if it would help at all.” He crossed to Rob to tuck the stem in amongst the others in the vase Rob had set down previously. “If I had more time, I would have added a note to each of these with a reason that I love you.”

He watched as Rob fought a losing battle with his emotions, his lower lip trembling slightly, a single tear sliding down his cheek.

“Rob, I am so damned sorry for what I said. I knew what those words mean to you, and I said them anyways, without thinking first. I certainly don't blame you if you can't forgive me. I just hope that someday we can at least be friends again.”

“Misha… I…” He searched Misha's face for even the slightest sign that he was being anything but serious. He found only honesty and fear warring with love and hope. “I… Oh, fuck it.”

Rob stepped up to Misha, pressing his front to Misha's as he put one hand on his hip and slid the other up around the back of his neck to pull him down for a deep kiss, ignoring the fans’ cheering. 

Rob only registered Misha's whispered “Oh thank God” against his lips before Misha's hands cupped his face to continue the kiss. 

They finally parted, Misha leaning over to rest his forehead on Rob's. “I love you so much, please never doubt that no matter how much of an idiot I can be.”

Rob pulled back to look up at him. “I know. I love you too. But you do realize they're all going to think this is just us screwing around again, right?”

Misha grinned. “Yeah, but just think of the fanfiction!” He hooked his fingers into Rob's beltloops, leaning in to kiss him again.


End file.
